Chapter One: Abby

Chapter One



The night was quiet, with nothing to think about and nothing to see. Abby's small bedroom was completely still and pitch dark. Abby, who was eleven years old, got up and hauled the blankets and sheets back up onto her bed. The blankets had always ended up on the floor somehow, at some point during every night. This had happened ever since she as six or seven years old, resulting in her having to get up and pull the blankets back up or just bear the cold all through those nights. When the covers were settled, Abby managed to get comfortable under them and go to sleep.



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The next morning was usual; Abby's mom made breakfast (pancakes), her dad sat at the kitchen table drinking his coffee and watching the news, and Abby sat on the couch, petting her little dog, Skipper. No one really knew what breed Skipper was... Just a mutt, her dad would say, but surely a cute mutt. He had a brown back and face, and just above his white 'sock paws' there was a patch of brown on each leg. He was mostly white, with a few splashes of black here and there. The first day Abby had Skipper, she immediately decided that blue was 'his color', so she bought him a blue color, leash, bed, food dish, water bowl, and a blue squirrel-shaped squeaky toy, which he very much enjoyed.

Skipper was a dog, but to Abby, he was the love of her life. She made sure that she pet him every chance she got, fed and watered him twice a day, gave him weekly baths, brushed him, and so much more. Skipper returned the favor in licks and affectionate nibbles to her hands, and protectiveness towards Abby and her parents. Abby hated having to leave him home every day while she was in school, so both her and Skipper were glad it was summer break.

Abby clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Come on Skip!" she said. Skipper obediently hopped up onto her lap and layed down. Abby whispered, "Good boy," and scratched his ears. "Hehh, hehh, hehh," he panted in reply, with his pink tongue hanging out of his mouth. Abby smiled and kissed his head, then set him on another seat of the couch, stood up, and walked over to the kitchen table. "Hi dad."

"Hi, Sweetheart," her dad greeted her, his attention still on the news. Abby sat beside him and stared at the TV. 'How can he find any... pleasure.. in this?' she thought. There was a boringly dressed woman on screen, holding a dull black microphone, standing in front of a brick wall. She was saying something boring... something about bills and taxes. Nothing an eleven year old would want to have to sit through, obviously. Abby couldnt take anything this boring for more than 10 seconds, so she turned her attention towards her mom's cooking.

"Mom," she said. "You know what would be cool?"

"What would?" she replied.

Abby suggested, "If we dyed the pancakes."

Her mom, who didn't care all that much to be different or unique, just stared at Abby with a ridiculed expression. "No." she said, and turned back to making breakfast. Abby just sighed and decided to let her mother be boring and uninteresting. All she wanted was a little fun, a little touch to the perfect weather, which the weather man was now reporting on TV... a little...adventure.

"Dad?" Abby ventured after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Ya, Abs?"

"What if we were able to go into the TV?"

"You mean, like, see whats inside of it? There are a lot of wires and things like-"

"No," she inturrupted. "I meant...What if we could be right there in the TV show?"

Her father chuckled. "That's impossible... But it would be interesting to see that happen. Maybe you can make it happen... When you become a scientist."

"Daddy, you know I can't stand science."

He grinned. "Science classes, maybe, but you do enjoy TV, don't you?"

"Sure I do," Abby replied.

"Then you enjoy science. Science is everything you can imagine.... Why, if it weren't for science, you wouldn't be here right now."

Abby's mother turned and said, "Now, Charles, don't give her any ideas. You know that nobody can go inside a television show that way. It's completely impossible."

Her father whispered in Abby's ear, "Don't listen to your mother... You know how she can be." Then he laughed. Abby nodded and managed a fake, but believable, smile. She still wasn't interested in science.

"Why don't you go ahead and clean up for breakfast, sweetie," her mother told her. "The pancakes are almost ready."

"Alright, mom," Abby replied, standing up and heading to the sink to wash her hands.

Her mom frowned. "Not in here! Go to the bathroom sink!"

Abby sighed and did as her loved but way too uptight, boring mother said.



Coming soon...Chapter Two.